#what to call the spanish region/language

[janamensch]

Woah Ser Valerie… There’s rose petals in the air when she fights!

[fdelopera]

Yo Goyim! Looks like I'm going to need to give some of you a crash course on what antisemitic language looks like, because I've been seeing entirely too much of it from some of you here on Tumblr.

Now, I think it's time for a Jewish history lesson, because I've been seeing way too many Nazi-related conspiracy theories going around. If you hear contradictions to the basic information that I am about to share (i.e., if you hear someone saying that the Jewish people are "a race that originated in Europe"), it is likely that you are hearing a white supremacist, anti-Jewish conspiracy theory.

So, here's the basics of Jewish history. Jews are indigenous to the Levant have been there for thousands of years. The Levantine people that Jews descended from have been in that area of the Levant since the Bronze Age. Jews as a distinct people have been there since the Late Bronze Age. Before it was Palestine it was the Kingdom of Judah, then Judea, and then Judaea, and that is literally where we are from. The word Jew means "a person from the Kingdom of Judah." The Romans renamed the area Syria-Palaestina (which they borrowed from the Greek name Palestina) in the 2nd century CE after destroying the Second Temple in Jerusalem and leading another campaign to try to eradicate the Jewish people (guess what, we're still here, motherfuckers).

And even after the Romans tried to annihilate us, even after they scattered many of us into European diaspora, many Jews came back, again and again over the ages, and there have nearly always been Jewish communities in the region throughout history.

And if you come for me or try to dispute any of this history with white supremacist bullshit, I am a Jew who has studied way more Jewish history than you. And as politely as possible, you can take your white supremacist conspiracy theories and fuck off into the sun.

Okay, with all that out of the way, let's get into it!

Gloves are coming off, because this is just a sampling of the Nazi dogwhistles I've been seeing here on Tumblr about the Jewish civilians who were tortured, murdered, and worse:

- If you say shit like, "The Jews got what they deserved"...

GUESS WHAT? You're talking like a white supremacist, and you need to fucking check yourself.

- And if, on the other hand, you say shit like, "The reports were probably overblown. I think those were paid actors. I don't think those Jews were murdered. No Jewish children were killed. No Jewish bodies were desecrated" blahblahblah...

GUESS WHAT? You get to sit with the Nazis at their table for lunch.

- If you tell Jews "go back to Europe where you came from"...

GUESS WHAT? Not only are you telling the descendants of Jewish refugees to go back to the Spanish Inquisition, the Russian pogroms, and the Nazi gas chambers, as I explained in this post, but you are also repeating a white supremacist conspiracy theory about the origins of European Jews.

Jews are a Levantine people from the area of the Middle East currently called Israel (formerly called the Kingdom of Judah, and then Judea). While there was some emigration to Europe during the late Roman Republic and the early days of the Roman Empire, the first mass migration of Jews to Europe was a forced migration. Gentiles from the Roman Empire dragged us there as captives after 70 CE, the year Rome destroyed the Second Temple.

- And if you're telling yourself that there are "good Jews" and "bad Jews," and those Jewish civilians were "bad Jews," so they deserved to be tortured and killed...

GUESS WHAT? You're spouting white supremacist ideology.

Antisemitism takes a long time to deprogram.

A lot of gentiles grow up with anti-Jewish ideology that they have never questioned.

And a lot of Christians are kept ignorant about Jewish history because preachers and priests fear it would make Christians question the many inaccuracies in the Bible.

But the first step in noticing antisemitic beliefs is to notice when you start singling people out *because* they are Jewish.

And I have been seeing some of you gleefully celebrating the murder of Jewish civilians *because* they are Jewish.

And that is antisemitism.

That is one step closer to the next generation of Jews getting shoved into the gas chambers. And there are only 16 million of us left in the entire world. We're 0.2% of the world's population. And we cannot afford another Holocaust.

And if your response to me saying that is, "Well, those Jews deserve it."

Guess what. You are making it easier for Nazis and white supremacists to spread hatred and commit acts of violence against Jewish people. And you will have to live with that blood on your conscience.

So...

If you are a gentile, and you see other gentiles repeating these kinds of white supremacist dogwhistles about Jewish people, here's how you can help:

1. MOST IMPORTANTLY: Help them direct their focus away from attacking random Jewish people online and towards helping Palestinians.

Actions that people can take right now are contributing to verified charities and relief organizations that help the people of Gaza. Only donate to organizations that are verified by CharityNavigator.org and CharityWatch.org.

2. Call that shit out. Tell people that they're being antisemitic, and explain that Jew-hatred is dangerous to Jewish people. Antisemitism gets Jews attacked and it gets Jews killed. In the US, many synagogues require round the clock security to protect against white supremacists who want to murder Jews. In Pittsburgh, my old home town, a group of Nazis from north of the city planned the murder of Jewish congregants at Tree of Life Synagogue, and so far only one of them (the gunman) has been arrested and convicted of the murders. The others are still at large.

3. Explain to them that it is antisemitic to celebrate someone's death *because* they're Jewish. ALSO, it is antisemitic to blame a random Jewish person for the actions of ANY government, whether that be the Israeli Government or the US Government.

4. Explain to people that they're not going to solve this conflict by posting antisemitic statements and memes online. All they will do is alienate the Jewish people in their lives and make those Jews feel scared and unsafe. And they will contribute to this current wave of antisemitism.

Antisemitic hatred doesn't help Palestinians. All it does is put Jewish people around the world in danger.

[kemetic-dreams]

Once you call yourself a Negro, the scientifically written you out of existence. There is no land called Negro, no language or culture- Malcolm X

Right now, in this country, if you and I, 22 million African-Americans -- that's what we are -- Africans who are in America. You're nothing but Africans. Nothing but Africans. In fact, you'd get farther calling yourself African instead of Negro. 

Black names don't exist, black land does not exist, black language does not exist. Human skin comes from the darkest brown to the lightest hues. We are Africans. African populations have the highest levels of genetic variation among all humans.- Khepri Neteru

By the early 1900s, nigger had become a pejorative word in the United States. In its stead, the term colored became the mainstream alternative to negro and its derived terms. After the American Civil Rights Movement, the terms colored and negrogave way to "black". Negro had superseded colored as the most polite word for African Americans at a time when black was considered more offensive.[126][failed verification] This term was accepted as normal, including by people classified as Negroes, until the later Civil Rights movement in the late 1960s. One well-known example is the use by Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. of "Negro" in his famous speech of 1963, I Have a Dream. During the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, some African-American leaders in the United States, notably Malcolm X, objected to the word Negrobecause they associated it with the long history of slavery, segregation, and discrimination that treated African Americans as second-class citizens, or worse.[127] Malcolm X preferred Black to Negro, but later gradually abandoned that as well for Afro-American after leaving the Nation of Islam.[128]

Since the late 1960s, various other terms for African Americans have been more widespread in popular usage. Aside from black American, these include Afro-American (in use from the late 1960s to 1990) and African American (used in the United States to refer to Black Americans, people often referred to in the past as American Negroes).[129]

In the first 200 years that black people were in the United States, they primarily identified themselves by their specific ethnic group (closely allied to language) and not by skin color. Individuals identified themselves, for example, as Ashanti, Igbo, Bakongo, or Wolof. However, when the first captives were brought to the Americas, they were often combined with other groups from West Africa, and individual ethnic affiliations were not generally acknowledged by English colonists. In areas of the Upper South, different ethnic groups were brought together. This is significant as the captives came from a vast geographic region: the West African coastline stretching from Senegal to Angola and in some cases from the south-east coast such as Mozambique. A new African-American identity and culture was born that incorporated elements of the various ethnic groups and of European cultural heritage, resulting in fusions such as the Black church and African-American English. This new identity was based on provenance and slave status rather than membership in any one ethnic group.

By contrast, slave records from Louisiana show that the French and Spanish colonists recorded more complete identities of the West Africans, including ethnicities and given tribal names.

The U.S. racial or ethnic classification "black" refers to people with all possible kinds of skin pigmentation, from the darkest through to the very lightest skin colors, including albinos, if they are believed by others to have African ancestry (in any discernible percentage). There are also certain cultural traits associated with being "African American", a term used effectively as a synonym for "black person" within the United States

[conazo]

Valentino writing tips: language

I’m not an expert by any means, but I thought I might provide some insight into how I, personally, handle the nasty moth's dialogue.

Like all languages, Spanish is highly regional. We don’t really know Val’s actual background as a Sinner, so your guess is as good as mine. Given his VA is Puerto Rican, however, I write Valentino as someone who speaks Caribbean Spanish (like me!). The three Spanish-speaking countries/territories in the Caribbean are: Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. I'm not familiar with Cuban Spanish, so we'll focus on the first two for now.

Some of these are more specific to one place than the other, but I’m mushing them together for simplicity’s sake (don't come at me).

Fun quirks of Dominican and Puerto Rican Spanish:

A habit of shortening words, like “ven pa’ca” (“come here”) instead of “ven para acá.” We frequently eat the letters “r,” “s” or “d” toward or at the end of some words.

Pronouncing “r” as “l” in some words.

Pronouncing “t” as a soft sound between a “th” and a “d.” Although this voice has a Spanish (from Spain) cadence, you can hear the modified “t” sound in “Valentino” here.

Fun Dominican and Puerto Rican words and phrases:

“Coño” as a casual curse, typically used as an expression of frustration (like “fuck!”). My username is basically a really intense version of coño, and is a very Dominican phrase.

“Diablo,” which means “devil,” is also commonly used as an exclamation.

“Hijo de la gran puta,” a classic that roughly parallels "son of a bitch," but literally translates to “son of a great whore.”

“Papi” or “papi chulo” (“cute daddy”) as a term of affection. “Papito” is the diminutive version of this phrase.

On that note, you can add “ito” to the end of just about anything to make it a diminutive (cutesy/smaller version). “Chulo” means cute, for example. “Chulito” is the even more affectionate/smaller version of that.

“Dique,” which is used to express doubt. Vox might say, “I am not obsessed with Alastor!” Valentino might mutter “diiiique” in response. This is a Dominican thing.

“Wepa,” which is something usually shouted in excitement. This is a Puerto Rican thing.

“Vaina,” which kind of means “thing,” often with a negative connotation. So, Valentino might look at one of Velvette’s designs, find it hideous, and say, “que vaina más fea, oof” (“what an ugly thing, oof”).

“Fó,” which is sort of “ew” or “gross,” usually re: bad smells. You shout it.

“Mano,” short for “hermano” (“brother”). Used between friends.

“Dímelo” (“tell me”) as a greeting. Something that would be said when answering the phone, for example.

“Cojer” as a means of saying “to take,” like taking something from a table. This word has a very different context in other regions. In Mexico, for example, the verb “cojer” is vulgar and means “to fuck.”

“Ahorita,” which in my experience means “later.” In other regions, it can mean “right now” or “later” depending on context.

Commonly used phrases in Mexican Spanish.

You’ll want to avoid these if you’d like his dialogue to be consistently Caribbean-inspired:

“Pinche”

“Verga”

“Wey”

“No mames/no manches”

“Qué padre”

“Chingar”

Calling acquaintances “primo” or “jefe”

I mention this Spanish dialect specifically because it's the most common one in the world. And hey, Val could be canonically Mexican or Mexican in your headcanon! That's cool, too. I'm just providing insight for consistency's sake.

Other insight:

“Ay dios mío!” is a generally overused phrase, in my opinion, and not actually said IRL as frequently as TV makes it seem. Just my experience, though.

“Ay” or “uy” are good filler sounds. You hear Val shout it when Niffty snaps at him.

Valentino canonically squeaks like a moth when passionate!

His voice takes on an echo/growl when he’s particularly angry.

Mixing English and Spanish is tricky. Spanglish is not uncommon in PR, DR, and the US, but usually only when speaking with someone else who is fluent in both languages. Valentino seems plenty fluent in English; he uses lots of contractions, complex sentence structure, and slang. He doesn’t need to inject Spanish phrases in favor of English ones when conversing with another English speaker. He does do it sometimes for emphasis (“the devil’s princesa” or “this chiquita”).

As cliché as it is, defaulting to a Spanish phrase in moments of alarm, anger, frustration, or affection is also not uncommon if you grew up in a Spanish-speaking home. If someone surprises me, I shout “coño” by default, for example.

Valentino uses pet names when referring to others, like "amorcito" (“little love”) and "Angie" over voicemail.

Generally speaking, Val likes to stretch his vowels to be theatrical ("he mooooved!"). He sometimes eats the ends of English words, like “fuckin’” instead of “fucking.” He also sometimes rolls his “r” for English words, like in “ungrrrateful whore!”

Val's accent isn’t consistently strong, which could be a stylistic choice, or he could just be prone to a kind of unique code switching, for lack of a better term. My friends say I speak English with a Spanish accent when conversing with my family, for example (it’s not intentional).

Okay that’s it, bye!

[writingquestionsanswered]

Tips for worldbuilding on a massive scale? (and maybe ways to get around including every little detail...?)

I've been reading an article on how poorly designed Westeros is as it's basically a blown up medieval Britain and lacks diversity in ethnicity, language, culture etc, and want to avoid the same mistake.

I absolutely love worldbuilding and my WIP takes place all over a fictional continent so am trying to do as much research as I can. It is fantasy however so am expecting to be able to escape some realism.

If anyone's interested here is the link! https://medium.com/migration-issues/westeros-is-poorly-designed-3b01cf5cdcaf

Worldbuilding on a Massive Scale

Given that Game of Thrones is heavily based on the English War of the Roses, I certainly wouldn't call Westeros "poorly designed" for being a blown up medieval Britain. And also, it really isn't as much of Europe is represented in Westeros: Spanish/Portuguese-based Dorne, Scandinavian-inspired Iron Islands, Mediterranean-esque Stormlands, Alpine Vale, and Siberian-like North. Westeros itself is certainly not "diverse," but GRRM made up for that somewhat with the diversity of the lands across the Narrow Sea.

But, as the article writer mentions "GRRM wanted to do too many things," and I think that's just the plain reality of worldbuilding on a massive scale. There's just no need for it. Sure, there are some people who love epic worldbuilding and tend to get salty if every nook and cranny of your world isn't fleshed out t the microbe, but there are also people who compete in underwater pumpkin carving, so...

I think the key is always to make sure the things you flesh out serve at least one of three purposes:

-- it's integral to the back story, either plot back story or character back story

-- it's integral to the conflict, meaning it needs to be fleshed out in order for the plot to unfold properly

-- it's necessary in order for the reader to understand characters, conflict, events, or situations

Otherwise, you an probably skip it. Which doesn't mean you can't still shine a light on parts of your story's world that aren't that relevant. Perhaps a character has a story about visiting some city in some country on some other continent. Or maybe everyone loves some wine from a particular region in a particular far away country. Sometimes, worldbuilding (that isn't story relevant) doesn't have to be more in depth than that.

Happy worldbuilding!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! | ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[useless-catalanfacts]

Frequently Asked Questions

This post answers the following questions:

Who are the Catalans? Where are you?

Which are the Catalan Countries? (each Catalan country)

Where can I learn the Catalan language? (free online resources and where to find classes)

What social media accounts can I follow that post in Catalan?

If your question isn't answered here, you're more than welcome to send me an ask!

1. Who are the Catalans? Where are they?

Catalan people are a cultural group who come from the area known as the Catalan Countries. We speak the Catalan language (a language that descends from Latin) and have a distinct culture (cuisine, traditions, holidays, dances, music, literature, etc) and history since the Middle Ages.

Our nation is the Catalan Countries, located in the coast of the Mediterranean sea, in South-Western Europe.

As a result of past wars and invasions, most of the Catalan Countries are under Spanish rule and a part of it is under French rule (+1 city in Italy). In fact, Spain and France have harshly persecuted, illegalized and tried to exterminate the Catalan language and culture for a long time, well into the 20th century. But Catalan people have survived the ethnocide and we still exist, even though we continue to face discrimination and there are some settings where it's still not legal to speak Catalan (for example, public schools in the French-controlled part, or European Union ambits, among some others).

There is also Catalan diaspora around the world.

We are not a closed culture, we are very open to foreigners learning our language and culture, and the Catalan diaspora often organizes celebrations for our holidays or groups to do traditional activities (most famously the castellers, aka human towers) that everyone can join.

2. Which are the Catalan Countries?

We say the Catalan Countries in plural because it's made of different areas for historical reasons. The Catalan Countries are all the areas where Catalan is the native language, which have historically been part of a whole, and which share a common culture (with local variants, of course). Here they are:

From North to South:

Northern Catalonia. Capital city: Perpinyà. It's under French administration (part of the region Occitanie in the new French regions system, used to be Languedoc-Roussillon in the old one).

Andorra. Capital city: Andorra la Vella. It's an independent microstate.

Catalonia. Capital city: Barcelona. It's under Spanish administration (it's the Catalonia region in the Spanish regions system).

Eastern Strip, also called Aragon Strip. It's under Spanish administration (it's part of the region of Aragon in the Spanish regions system).

Balearic Islands, including Mallorca, Menorca, Eivissa (in English also known as Ibiza) and Formentera. Capital city: Palma. Under Spanish administration (Balearics region in the Spanish regions system).

Valencian Country. Capital city: València. Under Spanish administration (called Valencian Community in the Spanish regions system).

El Carxe. Tiny rural area. Under Spanish administration (part of the Region of Murcia in the Spanish regions system).

L'Alguer. One city in the island of Sardinia. Under Italian administration (part of the region of Sardinia in the Italian regions system).

3. Where can I learn the Catalan language?

We are thrilled that you want to learn our language. Catalan people love it when others learn our language. Here I'll link you to classes and free online resources.

If you want face-to-face classes outside of the Catalan Countries, you can check this website to find if there's a university that offers Catalan classes near you. There are 101 around Europe, 25 in North America and Cuba, 5 in Asia, and 4 in South America. Students from these courses can also participate in language stays and internships in the Catalan Countries.

If you're already in the Catalan Countries, you will easily find courses for foreigners which the government offers for free or for a cheap price (depending on the level and each person's economic situation). Check out your local CPNL (Consorci per la Normalització Lingüística).

If you want to learn independently on the internet, there are two resources I recommend the most, both are available online for free.

One is the book "Life in Catalonia. Learn Catalan from..." that you can find in various languages. Here I add the link to the official government page where you can legally download the PDFs for free, you only have to scroll down and click under where it says "text complet". You can find the book Learn Catalan from English, from Spanish, from Arabic, from Tamazight, from French, from Hindi, from Urdu, from Punjabi, from Romanian, from Russian, and from Chinese.

The other resource I recommend the most is the online course Parla.cat. It has different levels for beginners or advanced learners. You have to create an account (it asks for an official document number, don't worry about it, it's not a sketchy site, it's because it's an official course paid by the government of Catalonia and if you immigrated to Catalonia having taken this course would officially count as a language course and can give you some benefits). You can either use it for free (all the learning material is available in the free version) or you can use the paying version. In the paid version, you will get assigned a language teacher from Catalonia who can help you and correct you.

There are many more resources. You can find more free resources in this post, this post, or in this link.

Here you have some recommendations to start practising. And remember that you can watch Catalonia's public TV streaming service 3Cat for free from anywhere in the world!

4. I want to follow social media accounts that post in Catalan. Can you tell me some?

Of course! According to the WWW Consortium, Catalan is the 35th most used language on the Internet, out of the more than 7,000 languages in the world.

Here's some lists with recommendations by topic:

Anime and manga

Cooking

Travel accounts

Videogames

Fashion and lifestyle

More lists will be coming soon

If your question wasn't answered, you can send me a question clicking here. 🙂 You can also browse this blog by topics here.

[aloevhello]

Nueva York in ATSV Script

1. Nueva York

Nueva York’s art style is inspired by the work of Syd Mead, a neo-futurist concept artist who often portrayed utopian designs of streamlined urban settings. The ATSV art book also cites other artists from the 70’s and 80’s, such as John Berkeley, John Harris, and John Bell, adding to the retro futuristic look of the city.

The city being reminiscent of Mead’s sketchbook is shown through the sketch lines presented in its architecture to Miguel himself, creating the image of an unfinished world. This style likely reflects Mead’s work in concept design, the idea of the future being susceptible to change, and Miguel’s 1992 comic run being cancelled and in turn his story being left unfinished.

The script also describes Nueva York as being bilingual, which is exemplified later in ATSV when Miguel speaks to Miles fluently in Spanish. This indicates that Spanish is at least a secondary language used in Nueva York, along with the city having a high Spanish speaking population.

The foyer is described as brutalist, an architectural style that emphasizes functionality and structural elements, along with giving a cold and imposing impression. Brutalist structures are often used for utilitarian purposes, which works in tandem with Miguel’s philosophy of utilitarianism regarding canon events.

2a. Downtown

Syd Mead is also known for his darker cyberpunk designs found in films like Blade Runner (1982), which inspired the look for the underground portion of Nueva York; a fitting choice since the comics portray this section of the city being riddled with crime. The use of one main artist to present the utopian and dystopian aspects of Nueva York allows for a visual connection between these disparate parts of the city.

Considering the pistons in this scene, one questions what kind of function they serve for the city? What if the industrial aspect of the city’s underground is focused on providing an energy source that fuels the upper level of Nueva York? What if these pistons are meant to help fuel the city’s lower level?

It’s also interesting to note the script’s use of the word “underbelly” when describing the lower city, since that phrase was used to describe the same area, which is named as Downtown, in the comics. (Below a panel from v1, #45 from sm2099 July 1996)

At least, this region would be called Downtown if the script had not already named this place as…

2b. Viejo Nueva York

In the script, Downtown is renamed as Viejo Nuevo York which translates into “Old New York” in Spanish. The name change likely occurred to reflect the bilingual nature of the city and its inhabitants.

The name Viejo Nuevo York could also provide more insight into the city’s history, considering how the script referred to this section of Nueva York as the “old city.” Maybe this will lead to further exploration into Nueva York’s history and its juxtaposing aspects. Viejo Nueva York is a fitting name to describe this portion of the city, since the comics state that it was once the island of Manhattan before Nueva York was built on top of it.

Viejo Nueva York is also set in “permanent night” due to the upper level of the city being constructed on top of their buildings that prevent any sunlight. This acts as a clear differentiation from the blue sky’s portrayed in the city’s upper level as seen in the film.

3. Anyr

These two scenes present the spider-like contraption, Anyr, found at the Go-Home-Machine. The script’s usage of words like “cocoon” and “spidery arms” gives the robot an organic and animalistic quality, which differs from the other technology presented. The directors’ commentary adds to this point as they state that whale noises were used to make Anyr sound more like a living being than a machine.

In the commentary, one of the directors state that Anyr’s design was inspired by a stop-motion resin spider, The Widow Of The Web, from a sci-fi adventure movie called Krull (1983). Anyr’s namesake was inspired by Ynyr, a character in Krull who climbed across the spider’s web. Considering how Krull was from the 80’s, the retro aesthetic continues despite the robot being in a futuristic setting.

The directors note how Anyr is meant to be this mystical technology Miguel found from the deep future of 3000, potentially from another dimension. While the commentary states that Miguel found the robot instead of creating it, considering how akin to a spider it is, Anyr might lead to a future plot point that goes more in depth about the nature of the Spiderverse.

[elbiotipo]

So when it comes to distance in a fictional setting, is metric king? I wrote some fantasy post-apoc recently where the protagonist measured it in Oranges and Aevums (the latter being their own name), but more generally speaking is it worth it to hash out bespoke measurement systems for fictional cultures, do you think?

Oranges as a measurement unit sounds so funny, and a measurement based in... yourself makes surprising sense, given all the measurements based on body parts. Why not YOURSELF?

Well, I would think in a real post-apoc world metric would be king indeed, scientific and technologic instruments are in metric even in the US and you could always get a ruler from a school or scales from a grocery store, so eventually you could get back on track to reforming the metric system. It would be interesting, though, if every society during isolation had slightly different measurements for the same units because of faulty equipment (say, ohms or amperes or even grays) and they had to make a congress to clear things up.

Returning to your main question. My perspective here is the same as conlangs. It's very, very fun to have them, but it's not fun to force your audience to read them. When I write something set in a fantasy or science fiction setting, in my head I'm assuming the characters are speaking different languages and I DO explain them and even give examples of them, but the story itself is written, for both the reader's and the writer convenience, in a language we can understand (Spanish in my case, and then it can be translated). Same with units of measurement. I seldom use direct units of measurement like writing "the ship was 110.3 meters long" (in science fiction, it's often a trap as they force you to stay true to them), when more descriptive language can be used...

In any case, you could do, for the kind of immersion I love, say something like "she was 14 oranges* tall, rather small for her age" and do an asterisk like "*A.N. : 1.39 meters tall". This is very fun when used sparingly, because it gives the worldbuilding obessed reader something to play with, you can do the conversion yourself and learn more about the world, without interrupting the story. Some understandably dislike this approach, but I think that if you know what you're doing, you can hide some pretty deep lore behind it. In one of my favorite retro games, The Ur-Quan Masters, there is an alien race called the Slylandro who live in a gas giant. When they tell you their ancient history, they use their own system of measurment based on the rotation of their planet with its own names like Dranhasa and Dranh. The game actually provides you with the rotation time on "Earth" time, so some dedicated fans did the conversion, and found out the dates fit with major events in the game's past. I thought that was an awesome bit.

But I digress again. Does this mean you should not talk about measurements in your story? No, it can do for very fun plots and digressions, as well as make things more realistic and beliveable. A fantasy world sharing all the same measurement units can be as unplausible as everybody speaking "Common". Let's remember that the current metric system is a modern invention which took a long time to be adopted (and some, well one, country, still resists it). Just take a look at the many, many historical systems of measurement:

This was especially prominent in places like the Holy Roman Empire, where every statelet, county, principality, free city, prince-bishopric, duchy, archduchy, etc. may and most often did have different measurements from each other. Just take a look at how measurements varied from each German region, it's crazy. The systems of weight where particularily important. Before the introduction of standarized coinage, coins also varied not only between kingdoms, but between regions, and even towns, and coins made at different times with different alloys had different values. Rather than money in our modern sense, you could think of them as some kind of 'asset' that could vary in value depending on the circumstances. What's more, those values had to be checked by people who knew what they were working with. Silver and gold content could be weighed, ah, but you need good scales and weights, and someone who knows how to work them! And these people could easily rip you off, or you could lose value accidentally if those scales weren't done just right or fiddled with on purpose. In fact, this is where the word 'Mark' comes from.

It wasn't as easy to take say a 100 something bill and get the change in 1 something coins. There is a very interesting subplot in the anime Spice and Wolf where Lawrence, the trader character, has been paid in gold coins, and he has to trade them into lesser denominations. However, he has to be REAL careful so that nobody scams him given all I told you above. Even getting 'gold' coins was a gamble before modern coinage and banking (another long topic). How much of that is REALLY gold and not an alloy with silver or other metal? Who can you trust to tell you how much your coins are worth? Are they compatible between borders or even time, is this version worth as much as the others? Things that characters in fantasy who have just plundered a dragon's hoard almost never think about. Except in Spice and Wolf.

(here is a gif of Holo to break the wall of text)

This all of course, as again you can see in Spice and Wolf, can make trade very tedious and even unstable. This was one of the reasons why the metric system was so quickly adopted in Europe and then elsewhere; consistent units just allow for easier trade. Lots of other things involving measurement can have a major impact on your story. For one, you NEED consistent and accurate measurement to create even the most basic industrial and scientific equipment. You can wing it for a time like alchemists (and even they knew their measurements) but eventually, you need to measure things to understand them. To have working steam engines, steel production, chemical industries and more, you need to know your temperature is. If you want to do electricity, you need measurements for current, resistance and charge. If you're doing engineering, you need to have lenght, weight and volume very, very clear, or people will die. They don't necessarily need to be universal like the metric system (though it has lots of advantages, being coherent between units and decimal so it doesn't jump between different denominations) but they need to be standarized and measurable.

Most of the above, unless you're writing some kind of encyclopedia about a fictional scientific revolution (BASED BASED BASED) will not affect your characters directly. But IT IS worth keeping in mind for what kind of world your characters are living in. The standarization of measurement units always means SOMETHING in the state of your society, the strenght of the state and centralized authority, the state of scientific understanding (one could say that trying to measure the world was perhaps THE scientific revolution, "Man as a measure of all things"), the capability for industry and the standarization of coinage and trade.

Even if you don't have your characters interact directly with those things, they will interact with them. It's also, like I've said in the examples, fun to imagine characters having to learn or deal with different units of measurement, just as it is fun to imagine them learning new languages or cultural quirks. It's something I've done in the past, in my space opera setting, the worlds descended from the United States STILL use the imperial system, much to the frustration of the rest of the metric human sphere. There is also an alien character who has a hard time to learn human measurements, and that makes her melancholic about her past, as they can't intuitively see the now-extinct measurements she does. Again, man as a measure of all things... this does include other thinking beings...

There's more I could talk about here regarding time, but I did a post about that, though I'm not satisfied with it and will probably redo it in some time at the future. In any case, there's lot to talk about why every calendar in science fiction has 365 days and 24 hours.

As always, if you found this interesting and helpful, I would be very thankful if you gave a tip to my ko-fi! And feel free to ask about anything you'd like!

[spanishskulduggery]

What's the difference between espanol and castellano?

They both mean "Spanish" but there are some nuances; for your purposes the short answer is most likely that the difference will be español is the language as a whole as "Spanish", and castellano is taught in schools

There's a little more to it, but I'll explain below

-

The main difference between the two is that castellano is best translated as "proper Spanish" while español is just "Spanish"

In other words, a native speaker might speak español but castellano is the kind of Spanish taught in schools. It's not a one-to-one analogy but you can sort of think of it like "English" vs. "the Queen's English"

Historically, the Spanish language as we know it today originated in the region of Castile (primarily in the city of Toledo) and because Isabel of Castile funded the American expeditions and her kingdom would come to govern the Spanish-American colonies in Latin America, it became the version of the Spanish language that spread to Latin America

The major nuance here is that castellano is the language of academics, literature, and all things official, while español can be a bit of an umbrella term for all the different dialects and regional variations of the "Spanish" language

In the US, heritage speakers/learners may speak "Spanish" at home but get tripped up by the castellano in schools because castellano requires more precise grammar and spelling and it is very "official"....... so you can sort of think of it like knowing how to speak English but not doing well in an English composition class

Note: Even in Spain itself, castellano is a variety of Spanish as opposed to the Spanish regional variations in other places

-

Additionally, the two words can refer to demonyms [gentilicios] which show where someone is from; almost like nationalities but could be towns/regions etc.

In that case, español(a) means "from Spain" or a person "Spaniard"; and castellano/a means specifically "from Castile"

That meaning is sometimes less applicable if you're not in Spain, but Castile is a region [usually you're talking Castile and León or Castile-La Mancha], so castellano/a can have a geographic or historical

Again as an analogy, try to think of the difference between the United Kingdom and England, and it's something close to that... where if you refer to English as a language it makes sense, but if you call the wrong person "English" you can ruffle some feathers

EDIT: According to comments some countries will refer to castellano as the Spanish language in general, not español... probably because they don't want to be considered Spanish, but that's a guess on my part

[rotzaprachim]

I find the dialect issue really interesting in Italian, like it’s been a hot second since I studied it (don’t want to get it mixed up with Spanish etc) but I used to be faaaairly profficient-ish. But Italian has some interesting stuff with dialect and language that is of course super political - absolutely I believe that the minority languages of Italy are LANGUAGES, not “dialects,” eg napolitano, Sicilian, Calabrian etc. However! That doesn’t stop the complicating factors that

a) many are (due to repression in part) somewhat unstable and there’s been clear linguistic pushes in the direction of standard Italian

b) many (not all) young people don’t speak their regional language (which is also geographically associated)

c) the minority languages are for the most part still related to Italian and lend easily to blending and mixed forms

d) the standard language in Italian classes for foreigners is that florentine standardized form and they will almost never tell you regional slang or alterations

in essence there’s a dual issue here: minority languages are called “dialects” in a way that is deeply politically loaded, but for many many speakers there is a kind of language spectrum between minority languages (or remnants and borrowings from minority languages and “standard” Italian) that created a lot of…. Actual dialects in modern spoken Italian

but anyway I do think this all encourages a situation where the reality is that the majority of Italian speakers have some kind of mixed form or where regional dialects affect the standard spoken form at LOT , so that when you learn Italian you’re like oh this is easy. I’m getting an a. I’m a b2. Why the fuck can I not understand anyone ever. What is this. Like the standard form/minority language binary are kind of two ends of a spectrum and class will prepare you for like, official tv channels and Dante but not talking. Italians can understand you and they tend to be very very friendly and accommodating in matching that official form and altering their words/grammar, but you can’t easily follow a lot of *their* conversations and daily pronunciation and the literary language is very ornate. There are also not so many resources for this kind of thing

[cosmichoneibeee]

Dating Reyna hc's

Reyna is strong and powerful, a true queen and a queen don't fall in love with any mere pawn.

You're truly special

Your abilities on and out field draw her attention first

And your shiny personality keeps her interested

Flirts 24/7

With Reyna, it's never 'if' you like her, it's 'when'

She's as charming as she can be deadly

It's not a surprise when you fall under her spell

"I like you"

"I know, cariño."

Loves to kiss you and is a very good kisser

She has so much fun when she leaves her crimson lipstick mark on your lips and you don't notice, walking around for the rest of the day like nothing happened

Can't go without kissing you or touching you in some way for many hours straight

When you are in the same room, her arm automatically goes behind your back, holding you close

Asks for kisses as a good luck charm before going on missions, even though she doesn't need luck, as she herself says

Missions together are a nightmare for the Valorant leaders

It's usually faster and more efficient, yes.

But at the same time, Reyna begins to ignore the call-outs and the other allies asking for help, striving only to protect and help you.

Loves to friendly compete with you

Likes to bet on things that makes both win, like kisses or dinner

Zyanya loves to show herself off to you, make daring kills, aces, or knife eliminations

She gets really mad if you're not looking when she does something impressive

Hurts her little heart

Makes her have certain passive aggressive moments with you

But she goes back to her passionate ways once you apologize, even though you weren't exactly wrong

Mission-free weekends are dedicated to the two of you. She loves to take you on dates.

You usually go out to dinner and she won't let you go to any restaurant, of course not, you only go to the fanciest restaurants of the region and eat the most expensive food on the menu

Baby you so much

Won't let you pay anything unless you say that's really important to you

Also loves to take you on shopping dates and will only leave if you two have both arms full of store bags

When she is tired because of missions during the week, she likes to stay at home and have a self-care night.

Order pizzas, shower together (if you want and without any sexual intent), let you go through her 15-step skin-care routine with her before finally sitting on the couch and watching a movie marathon or her favourite culebrón [soap opera] all night long

Like it or not, you will end up learning Spanish because Reyna always mixes languages

If you ask her to teach you more than just a few everyday words, she'll be more than happy to help.

A great teacher, despite the rigidity

Tries to learn your language (if it's not English) in secret, and aside from her heavy accent, she does it pretty well.

"It's about having discipline, cariño."

Your shoulder to cry on 24/7, anytime you need it

She would do anything for you, from boosting your self-esteem with honest words to helping you hide a corpse

And secretly hopes that you'll be there for her that way too

It is not a person with a stable psychological state to be honest, being with her is knowing that there may be outbreaks

She most commonly has nightmares, about Lucia and about losing you, in different ways.

But sometimes some triggers make her go beyond

After a particularly difficult mission, comes the obsession with keeping you safe and close..absurdly close

Or some odd noise in the middle of the night and the paranoia that someone is coming to kill you both

At these times, she needs her support and not only to tell her that everything is fine, but also to encourage her to seek professional help

Few of the Protocol know what happens to Reyna and having you help her overcome all these demons, she is very grateful

Despite all this, she is not a jealous partner at all

Zyanya knows her worth and she knows you, you wouldn't dare to do such thing

If someone tries to flirt with you, she just smirks, enjoying their attempt.

But that doesn't stop her from...talking...to this person if they make you uncomfortable

Loves you unconditionally

You are the reason she became a better and more understanding person

And she is the reason you became a braver and more confident person

You are the perfect match, besides all the differences and she would not trade you for anything in the world

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•٠

@ Do not copy any of my works, translate and/or post it on others websites.

[angstbyangeline]

Paloma Ajena

genre: angst

warnings: some gory descriptions and death

Annie Leonhart x fem!reader

Author’s Note: the reader speaks Spanish and lyrics from my favorite song (Paloma Ajena) is used too!

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

It was anxiety inducing moving into the cabins. Not wanting to be alone, you needed to make at least one friend and a friend group at most. Sadly, your bunk buddy was never interested in conversion, with anyone. You didn’t want to bother her but on the first night, you wanted to shoot your chance. You asked for her name and received a bitter reply.

Annie Leonhart.

You told her it was a pretty name and asked why she joined cadet training but was met with a sudden retort. She asked why you cared and why you were talking to her. You felt your ears go warm out of embarrassment. You stuttered, quickly explaining that you were just trying to make a friend and you were sorry to bother her.

Since then you only said the usual greetings to Annie to remain friendly. After a couple weeks you wanted to try again since you gained some confidence as you made other recent acquaintances. And this time, Annie gave you a real reply. It wasn’t that genuine or detailed but it was a great improvement from day one.

After that, Annie usually gave vague replies but actively listened when you were talking. She mentioned not being from anywhere nearby but never specifically said where from. That was until you expressed interest in her clothing attire. You’ve never seen a piece of clothing like the white closed sweater with a hood she would wear daily. Before Annie gave a clear reply of what the sweater thing was, she lowered her voice and instructed you that you aren’t to tell anyone what she was about to say. You nodded excitedly, crossed your heart and leaned in closer for her to answer. She whispered that it was called a hoodie and she got it from outside the wall. In a shushed voice, you asked if she was from outside the wall to which she nodded. Your eyes widened in shock but gestured your hands zipping your lips. Informing her that her secret is safe with you.

Annie found your first language fascinating, never directly praising it but asked you to translate phrases out of curiosity. Knowing her interest, you decided to give her a nickname. A name only you would know the meaning of and only you could use for her.

Palomita.

You told her it meant “(little) dove” and explained that it was perfect for her because she was as pale and beautiful as a dove. When Annie heard the translation and meaning, she thought it was the corniest thing ever. Deep down, she loved the name. It always brought an invisible smile to her cold expression.

Annie usually sat alone during meal times, you’d join her at the start of the meal but never stay as she’d tell you that she preferred being alone. You’d tell her to come over if she ever needed company. Annie found this incredibly annoying at first but grew to appreciate it. An annoyed expression always painted on her face regardless of how she felt on the inside.

It then became routine that you sat with your closest friends: Sasha, Marco, Connie and Jean. Sasha technically recruited you into the group when she found out you spoke a completely different language from everyone else. Speaking a different language in a space as small as your town and the walls was captivating. It made you somewhat popular.

You were closest to Marco Bolt though. Both being insanely smart but different regions. Marco wanted to go off into the Military Police while you wanted to join the Survey Corps. Marco was more book smart and you were more combat smart.

Within a couple of months, you had also become friends with some of the people that dropped out of cadet training to farm crops. You listened to their stories and reasons for dropping out of training, which you understood. On the rare free days of training, your farmer friends would teach you how to make baskets and bracelets out of the dry straws from their wheats. Once you got the hang of it, you ended up making a bracelet for yourself and Annie.

For what seemed to be the first time, Annie actually smiled and thanked you. The smile was subtle but you knew it was there. You have studied her cold face since you first met and can detect any change. When you saw her smile, you realized something else.

You had feelings for her.

You knew that Annie wasn’t one for romantic relationships in the slightest but even deeper you knew that she would never date you.

You ended up spilling this secret to Sasha. You both were feeling a little more hungry than usual and impulsive. Sasha helped herself to some stale bread found in the bottom of the pantry. She offered you the smaller “half” of one of the loafs which you ate, cautiously. You found a small bottle of wine. You’ve never drank before and you thought it would be fun to do it with a friend for the first time. You turned to Sasha to show what you found and motioned that you two should leave now.

You both went far into the woods and drank the entire thing. Most of the bottle was drunk by you as you thought you deserved more because you were the one to find it. You and Sasha were pretty buzzed when the bottle was finished. Your slurred words told Sasha in great detail about your feelings for Annie. Sasha only semi listened and thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world. You had to physically cover her mouth due to her laughing so loud. The last thing you needed was getting caught. Sasha encouraged you to confess your feelings to Annie but even in your drunken state, you knew that Annie wouldn’t reciprocate.

Unfortunately, Connie overheard Sasha telling Jean about your secret. It didn’t take long for the word to spread and get to Annie, thanks to Connie’s loud mouth. When you discovered that Annie knew about your feelings for her, you wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Humiliation followed you that entire day.

That night you went to bed early, skipping dinner and avoiding your nightly conversion with her. You weren’t hungry, the embarrassment took your appetite away. She noticed you weren’t in the mess hall for dinner. So she grabbed you a loaf of bread and made her way to the cabin. Knowing she’d find you there, where else could you be?

Annie peeked over to your bed and saw your figure facing the wall.

“Y/n, I know you’re awake.” her cold tone called out.

You breath hitched, you didn’t have any willpower to face her. What would you even say? What could you say that would save the friendship?

She shook you lightly and said, “I know you’re awake,” she took a small breath in before she continued, “and I know how you feel about me.”

There was a deafening silence after her statement. You didn’t know whether to cry, stay still or turn around. You didn’t get to weigh your options before she spoke again.

“I don’t reciprocate your feelings.”

It was obvious but your chest ached actually hearing her say it. In a low, raspy tone, you whispered,

“I know.”

Annie didn’t say anything, only left the bread on your bed and walked out. When you heard the door shut, your pillow was flooded in tears and silent cries.

Training wasn’t the same after that. You said your occasional greetings but never visited Annie during meal times or started your nightly conversions. Now, it was Annie asking you about your days and you giving vague answers. She never urged you to talk more or pride you with more questions but she always started the conversions.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

The Battle of Trost was your first fight. You and Marco decided to stick with each other. It definitely fucked with you mentally. Eren got eaten then Armin began to dissociate, many cadets ran out of gas then a muscular titan was spotted fighting all the pure titans around it. Only to find out that this fighting titan was in fact Eren. All the cadets were ordered to kill all the pure titans in Eren’s way as he tried to seal the hole that created hell in the first place.

After the order was given, you and Marco separated to carry out the mission. You were about to kill a larger titan but it was able to move at a fast pace. It saw you coming towards the nape of its neck and managed to stop you mid air by your leg. The hold it had on your leg was crushing, it broke your leg and destroyed the blades you were carrying. You dig one of the blades you had on hand between the titan’s thumb and index finger. It tightened its grip on you for a second then immediately let you fall. You used your ODM gear before you hit the ground but you knew you couldn’t fight anymore. You needed to find help.

Immediately zipping to find an area with no visible signs of pure titans to quickly form some kind of plan. On your airy trip, you saw Reiner and Bertholdt on one of the roofs staring at what remained of the tarnished town. You landed on the edge of the roof behind them, which was an unpleasant land due to your broken leg. Taking a second to clutch your knee in pain, you surveyed the area for any shelter in case you couldn’t make it to the tower.

Marco landed right next to you after he caught a glimpse of you not even within 30 seconds of you landing there first. He saw the condition your leg was in and gave you a concerned look before turning to the pair in front for more assistance. Just then, he stopped in his tracks as he overheard what they were talking about.

“Reiner…? Bertholdt…? Sorry but what were you talking about?” Marco questions. He tried to mask his nervousness.

You turn to see a terrified expression painted on Reiner or Bertholdt’s face. Their eyes widely staring at Marco then at you, thinking you also heard their conversion. You didn’t though, you were too busy wrapped up in pain and looking for a shelter to notice that they had been talking.

“Hmm? What did they say?” You winced loosely. The throbbing pain of your leg made it impossible for you to speak clearly or sit comfortably.

“You’re going to step in with your titan?” Marco asked for confirmation.

“What?!” You practically yell.

“And Bertholdt you said you made that hole? What is this? ”

Reiner and Bertholdt’s faces said it all. All the confirmation you needed to know that it was true.

“Ah, Marco and Y/n… everything you just heard was a joke.” You even doubted Reiner believed his own lie. His expression didn’t help his case.

“Que putos? Don’t say shit like that again. Puto ridiculo.” You spat, disgusted that he would make a joke like that.

“Have you guys lost it?! This isn’t like you! Focus on the mission. Look there are more titans coming! Let’s go!” Marco orders.

He grabs you by your abdomen and zips away. He lost trust in the pair to be of aid to your injury. The joke seemed too real to let go.

“What is up with them? Nothing from that interaction felt right.” You informed Marco.

“Something is up with them but right now I need to get you somewhere safe.”

Marco noticed you slipping from his grasp so he settled on a building to adjust. Before your feet touch the ground, someone from behind pushed you and Marco into a smaller roof that was right to you guys. You crashed onto the roof with Marco slammed on top of you. You let out a horrific, painful scream but was cut off by a huge hand covering your mouth. Tears of pain and anxiety poured out from your eyes, down your face and onto the hand that was on your mouth. You didn’t have to turn around and not like you could, to know who it was.

“Reiner!” Bertholdt calls out.

I knew it, you thought defeatedly.

Reiner quickly lets go of your face to take a hold on Marco. He didn’t have to pin you down as Marco’s weight was already doing the job and your broken leg left you almost immobile.

“Reiner, what are you doing?!” Marco asked desperately.

Marco let out small yelps in pain while you sobbed uncontrollably. You weren’t sure what they would do but it couldn’t be good.

“It hurts! Please stop! We aren’t going to tell anyone!” You screamed in agony.

You obviously were lying as something like this couldn’t be brushed over. But in this frightening moment, you’d say anything to avoid whatever Renier was planning to do.

“I wish I could. Problem is that you’re too damn sharp for that to fool you two.” Reiner explains.

You try to squirm your way out from under Marco but your broken leg made it impossible to do it. Marco tried to scream for help but Reiner covered his mouth immediately.

Just as you were about to try to reason with Reiner once more, Annie appeared. She was breathing heavily while looking with terrified eyes at the scene in front of her.

“Annie! Help us! Reiner has gone fucking insane!”

“Annie, you gotta help me!”

It was almost incomprehensible what you and Marco were saying. You both begged in hopes that Annie would save you two.

“...What’s going on here?” Annie, horrified, questioned.

“Reiner’s acting crazy! Get him off me!” Marco begged.

At this point the adrenaline had numbed the pain slightly to help you get your arms out from under. You tried to crawl out but it was useless as some of Reiner’s weight was on your legs.

“They heard me and Bertholdt talking. If we let them live, they’ll expose us.”

You briefly stopped moving and sobbing. Hearing that a fellow comrade saying that you needed to be killed was stomach turning. Then you began to remember all the things you haven’t done yet. Things you will never get to do. Your body and mind almost went numb. If Annie agreed with Reiner’s statement, there is no chance that you and Marco will make it out alive.

“You shouldn’t.. What the hell…” Annie muttered.

You just stared at Annie with empty, plending eyes. Will she actually help us?

Just then everyone felt the footsteps of a pure titan coming nearby.

“A titan! It’s coming this way!” Bertholdt shouted.

Reiner grabs Marco from behind by his shoulders and orders, “Annie, take off Marco’s ODM gear! Y/n’s too!”

It seemed in an instant, your body and mind regained feeling and emotion. Sadly, that emotion was horror and hopelessness.

“No! Stop! Annie, don't do it!” You scream. You felt like fainting from the amount of fear rushing through your body.

“Do it now!” Reiner demands.

“Wait, why should I have to?!”

“Back there, you risked your life to save Connie. I saw you. Why’d you put yourself in danger for him? Seems to me you became sympathetic towards the enemy. You wanna convince me I’m wrong? Now is the time to do it! Think of your father, he’s waiting for you to come home…”

You didn’t bother to listen to Reiner’s little speech anymore. You needed to get help. Using your arms, you tried to pull yourself from under Marco.

As you struggled and thrashed, Annie bent down and rapidly began to unbuckle Marco’s gear.

Your eyes widened and you began to scream uncontrollably to catch the attention of literally anyone.

“HELP! ANYON-”

Just then, you immediately black out. Reiner had given you a sharp hit to the back of your head so hard that it slammed onto the roof once more. The hit definitely had to have killed you before the titan had the chance to spot you.

Annie ripped Marco’s gear off and threw it into the window beside them. Annie didn’t need to take your gear off, you were practically dead. Before she followed the other warriors, she ripped off your bracelet.

The trio had flown to another roof a bit further from where they were before. They watched the scene unfold and, by God, was it spine chilling.

The pure titan grabbed Marco and quickly held it up to its mouth. It slowly took a bit of half of his face and shoulder. Then it dropped Marco from its hand and went to grab you next.

You remained unconscious up until it had lifted you up from the roof. It had grabbed you by the legs which left you hanging upside down. You screamed at an unimaginable level. Annie’s heart cracked and ached more with each scream created by your, probably damaged, vocal cords.

In a sinister manner, the titan lowers you into its mouth. Once you realized you were directly above its mouth, you knew that there was no way of surviving.

Vas a sufrir, vas a llorar cuando te acuerdes.

In your final moments, you saw the warriors and hoped that they would cry and suffer when they remembered what they did to you and Marco.

Paloma ajena, te creí buena.

You couldn’t believe Annie would do this, never would’ve thought that she would leave you for dead.

Ahora te marchas y me dejas con mi pena.

They ran away from a situation they created and now are watching as you screech in anguish.

And without a second to spare, the titan shoved you into its mouth. It swallowed you within seconds. Making you practically a snack.

As Annie watched you get eaten, she thought about another secret. One she hid from every soul she encountered. One kept from the warriors as well.

Annie, did in fact, love you.

She never wanted you to know and now, you never will. Marley would’ve had her publicly hanged if they found out she was in love with you, an island devil.

Her country is very dear to her, sadly, dearer than you.

Annie falls to her knees, in guilt and despair. Her hands covered her sobbing face, she no longer wanted to see the consequence to her actions. Her guilt will forever eat her alive at every waking moment.

Annie will never forgive herself for killing the only devil she loved more than anything.

[didalexiabreakupwitholgayet]

I was born in a real madrid family, and I chose to support it for 'loyalty' but after learning about the history and ties of the club, I feel like people think of me as a fascist 😭😭🙏.

It makes sense now why a lot of the spanish players that play for real madrid are problematic (athenea &her bf, and Olga).

Do you think the fascist history still stands right now with real madrid? Or do you think the favoritism has changed now? I truly do think there are some moments in football where the refereeing and management is extremely biased. But I'd like to hear your opinion on this.

it's a complicated question, but no, i don't think the vast majority of real madrid players or supporters have fascist tendencies, especially now when there are way more international players and fans. athenea's bf is a whole different story, as he has posed in front of monuments to franco and vox graffiti. and there are still definitely right-wing supporters for that club that are very much against immigration, gay rights, women's rights, and reforms for catalan culture and language.

but i do think there is favoritism among rfef and la liga/liga f for the center (madrid) and real madrid, specifically. and it's a favourite with the royal family. 100% favouritism. for example, real madrid allegedly told players not to take part in 'las 15' protest and that's why you had players like ivana and olga carmona given captaincy and speaking roles for the selection. they did not want to rock the boat and spoke quite favourably of vilda and rfef during this time.

and i do think in la liga that real madrid gets better calls than barcelona does among the referees. and then there are subtle things like having a better stage for the copa de la reina when two madrid teams were playing each other last year compared to this year. queen letizia does not even bother to show up for the copa de la reina most years, and things like that.

i had to google what the "old firm" was 🙈, but yes, there are some similarities. for us, it's more about regional differences vs. religion. and the rivalry matches between both sets of teams are legendary!

[dearinglovebot]

since yasammy week is in a month, here are my arabtino™ non-exhaustive culture observations for your fics:

- cheek kiss greeting: both latino and arab cultures do it. you do this when greeting family and friends both. for latinos it’s generally 1-2 and arabs are 2-3. you don’t actually kiss and it’s more of a symbolic gesture where you tap cheeks together (unless it’s like an auntie who’s getting cute aggression). the order is generally left, right (and left again, if it’s 3).

- a lot of spanish words are actually arabic. so if sammy forgets the english word for sugar and said “yaz where is the azucar” then yaz, even without spanish knowledge would know what she meant. cause azucar comes from al-sukkar. this is actually extremely relevant for food specifically. like olive (aceituna/al-zaytunna), basil (albahaca/al-habaq), and rice, orange, watermelon, etc are literally just the same word with a slight accent.

- latinos love dogs. arabs do not. both are fond of cats thought. in islam, dogs and pigs are seen as “dirty” animals (not spiritually. just literally. they’re muddy and islam values cleanliness). so it’s become a common belief even in non-religious communities that dogs are gross and cats, who “bathe” themselves constantly, are the superior pet. I think this is a perfect vessel for sammy wanting a dog and yaz being like “but they roll in dirt…” but sammy gives big sad eyes and yaz sighs like “fine”. similar thing with pigs. lots of latino dishes involve pork but no arab dishes do. which is something yaz might have to get used to (assuming she’s non-muslim in your hc. or maybe they make alternatives or vegan editions).

- we are constantly mistaken for each other. it’s not uncommon to try to speak arabic to latinos or spanish to arabs. their family members definitely might do that. AND! we share some common names. if they have a party and sammy’s cousin omar tries to talk to yaz’ aunt sara… confusion WILL ensue.

- these things, though are extremely shared concepts : big families with close relationships with extended family, calling anyone older than you “auntie/uncle”, calling family friends around your generation “cousin”, hosting guests is an extreme sport where you wait on them hand and foot like they’re the president, using whatsapp, your aunt sending boomer memes in the whatsapp family chat, no shoes in the house unless they’re special indoor slippers (9/10 they are adidas slides), white tanktop as lounge wear, looking down at white american culture and food, LOTS of seafood (if u hc them as being from costal countries of the regions), plastic chairs outside where adults sit and chat over drinks (most active hours are after the sun starts going down bc it’s hot), still using clothesline drying because you don’t fix what isn’t broken, can also apply to hand washing dishes but dishwashers are on the rise, watching 12 season badly produced TV dramas in your language with extremely camp-y plots

[gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan]

Maybe Someday

Next

Author's note: Zaarius in Mermay, since I forgot to write about him during may. Oops.

Summary: Zaarius muses on things. Ancient Terra is *interesting*

Warnings: None, unless I need to add anything let me know.

Tagged: @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @egrets-not-regrets, @kit-williams,

Tagged continued: @sleepyfan-blog, @whorety-k

'Such inelegant structures,' Zaarius muses to himself as he swims through the air in the relatively low-tech world that he doesn't remember swimming through the Void Sea to get to.

Then again, as a Chaos Marine, the Chaos Deity that he follows can be mercurial and capricious at times. However, he usually isn't sent to a planet on his lonesome, usually. He has been listening to the local base line humans talk, its not in a language that he recognizes. One of the base line humans in particular has caught his eyes. Their aesthetics are pleasing for being a base line human.

The human seems to have noticed that something is following them, but not who or what, from the way the keep looking around with an increasingly nervous dispostion. He can't stop himself from chortling at the way they are reacting. It's very cute, even if their stronger reactions are starting to tug on hearts strings that he long thought had been cut, burnt and destroyed in his long years of unceasing, unending tormented blissful agony that is being a Chaos Marine of Slaneesh.

"Hello," He coos out at the human in Gothic.

The whirl around looking side to side, and then up at him with large eyes. The noises that they made in their surprise had been utterly charming and had him lazily 'swim' closer to them through the air. His tail almost curling around them as he tilts his helmeted head from side to side. Now that he has a closer look at this human. Mine goes something deep and primmal within him, which he acknowledges with a subtle flick of one of his clawed fingers.

The human starts talking to him in one of the languages that's spoken on this planet that he can't understand, but by their tone and body language, they seem terribly curious about him. He hums in acknwoldgement of their words, even if he doesn't know what they are saying as they continue to move, he follows after them. Their voice is quite lovely to hear, and soothes something within his ragged, damned soul that he finds quite pleasing.

=-=-

So, you were terribly surprised when one of the Mer-Astartes approached you, he's a Large fellow, and from his patterns and markings you think he's a- an Emperor's Child. Whatever that means. What Emperor? None of the Mer-Astartes would tell the humans, or if they had, the humans won't, don't, or can't share it for whatever reasons they have.

Who had thought that someone had been following you, watching you. So, while you are… kind of intimidated by the Mer-Astartes, you are glad that he's here. Hopefully he will scare off who ever it was that had been following you with an intense feeling that had the hair at the back of your neck stand and had felt a lazer intense focus that felt like needles stabbing down your spine.

You had been half convinced that you were going crazy, or at least being a little paranoid. But the feeling of eyes and being watched had abated since your purple-ish companion had joined you. From the way he spoke and reacted (and from what you know about Mer-Astartes) from videos and other possibly reputable stories he might not know the langauge that you speak. Which, you have heard that some Mer-Astartes can speak English, Spanish, or whatever the prevailing language is of the region that they are near.

At least the more friendly ones do, or the more Mercenary ones. You had heard about an ugly incident with a pleasure cruise capturing mer-Astartes which had you shudder in horror. You were part of the support for that mission, you help handle the administrative details, keeping things run smoothly and handle phone calls. Make sure that the right information goes to the right people.

Mer-Astartes justice could be quite brutal. You try to talk to the purple Mer-Astartes to ask him if he needs or wants anything and all you get back his him occasionally cooing and trilling at you in whatever the language it is that the Purple Mer-Astartes speak.

One of the things that humans have figured out over time is that the different mer-astartes could have multiple languages, much to the dismay of some. You weren't entirely surprised, there were… how many languages spoken and dead littered through out history and time?

Even if they are aliens or something them having more than one language seems like it was more likely to occur than not. Just as different peoples across Earth had different languages and cultures, it wouldn't surprise you any if that is the same for Mer-Astartes. Now where they are from is a hotly debated subject that has no definitive answers.

You have sent a message off to one of your bosses and a couple of your co-workers about the Mer-Astartes that's been 'swimming' through the air, following after you like a lost puppy for- hours now to see if they can help find someone who can translate what he's saying to a language that you, or those on one of The Teams can understand.

He floats closer, seeing that you are tapping away at your cellphone, you are glad to have splurged on the security screen. He likely can't read what you are typing out, but who knows what sort of vision he has.

One of the Mer-Astartes Negotiation teams does come over, well at least one of them, who has a mer-astartes they are friendly with on the phone with them to try and talk to your new purple friend. Who trills at the other human tilting his head as he's offered the cellphone.

He looks at you, the device and your co-worker for a few moments before very gently grabbing the device and trilling into it. The mer-astartes on the other end starts speaking. You notice the way his body language changes as he hears what the other mer-astartes is saying. The way his tail lashes out in quick, sharp movements that has you slowly inching away from him. His movements slow and still, which could either be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on what he did next.

The purple mer- astartes proffers the phone back to your co-worker after trilling in it some more. Your co-worker listens to what the friendly mer-astartes is saying and you get sent a text message which reads thus:

[The purple Mer is named Zaarius and he claims he's 'bonded' to you.]

[I've just met him!] you send back in protest and surprise.

[He would like your name.] Is the response that you get, as well as a shrug. [Make sure to get your diving licensure, also learning more Negotiation skills is going to be in your future. Congratulations on getting a mer-astartes, you are going to be getting a pay bump, new job title, responsibilities and training.]

[Yay. Lucky me.] You text back glumly.

Humans who are Bonded to mer-astartes tend to be safer than those who are not bonded to mer-astartes. You turn to look at the trilling Zaarius and give him a small smile, "My name is ---."

[useless-catalanfacts]

Hi. A question in relation to your response a few asks ago. As a leftist foreigner, I have always thought Catalonia and its independence movement have a cemented leftist core, but is that just me simply being an essentialist and simplifying the dynamics since the war? Of course, I understand that most Catalans, like most people, are just normal people living their lives and wanting health and happiness and not hard-core extremists either way. I'm half Palestinian and boy, am I tired of people painting us as inherently political when all we want to do is, you know, stay alive. But, I've always just imagined Catalonia as a stronghold for socialist and anarchist vibes. Is that off? And if it's not off, how come one Spanish narrative is that Catalans are bourgeois and capitalist has been so prominent? Like, what are they basing that on? The fact that Catalonia is a somewhat wealthy region? And how do leftists respond to that? Sorry for sensitive questions I'm just really intrigued by this. Sending all the love from one occupied people to another.

First of all, my most sincere best wishes for liberation and solidarity to you and all the Palestinian people 🇵🇸❤️

You are right, Catalonia is a stronghold of leftism. It can be seen easily in maps of election results every time there are Spanish elections, or polls, etc. Catalonia and Euskadi always stand out. This is so prominent that there's even a Twitter account called The F*ck*ing Same Map Again making fun of this, lol. And within the independence movement even more so, too. Historically, the Catalan independence movement has been very linked to communism, with presence of social democrats as well. Since around 2010, many more social democrats and liberals have joined, too. This is not to say that no other profile exists, as you pointed out you can't expect a whole country to have the same ideology, but it's overwhelmingly the case.

The reason why the Spanish left likes to stereotype Catalans as bourgeois (at the same time as, when it's more convenient to them, they also stereotype Catalan people and language as a poor rural farmers' language) comes from the fact that Catalonia (and to a lesser extent also the Basque Country) were the only places of the state of Spain that were industrialized during the Industrial Revolution and for most of the 20th century. This created a very prominent Catalan working class —for your ask, I assume you know about the CNT, the collectivizations, etc. To give an overview, in 1919 about ⅕ of ALL of Catalonia's population was affiliated to the CNT anarchist union, that is not counting people in the rural areas affiliated to unions for rural workers like Unió de Rabassaires that also sympatized with CNT in many matters but was more focused on agricultural workers. More than ⅕ of the whole country's population being a paying member of the anarchist union!— But, of course, industrialization also produced a muuuuuuuch smaller amount of bourgeoisie. While most Southern and Central Spain was still ruled by the aristocracy that owned most of the land and hired agricultural workers on a daily basis (jornaleros), in Catalonia there were bourgeois factory owners.

In the 1920s, many people came from rural areas of Spain to Barcelona and other urban areas of Catalonia (the population of Catalonia tripled with their arrival), and in the 1960s again the same (this migration tripled again Catalonia's population). In many places, the people who were arriving lived side by side with the people who were already there, usually learned Catalan and mixed with the population. But in some places around Barcelona, because there wasn't enough housing in the city for all the huge amount of people who were arriving, the regime (this was still under Franco's dictatorship) built "dormitory suburbs" where previously there was no town nor suburb. Areas that used to be fields suddenly were all built into cheap housing for the arriving Spanish workers, often with very bad conditions when it comes to public services. Thus, there were pockets of the newly-arrived population that lived in areas only created for them and only inhabited by people who had arrived at the same time as them. The result is that these workers only ever knew other Spanish immigrants, and the only Catalan people they ever met would be at their jobs when they commuted out of their dormitory suburbs into Barcelona's centre. This way, in these pockets of the population (which, of course, did not come free of Catalanophobia) the idea that everyday people spoke Spanish and the bosses and managers spoke Catalan was cemented.

(Obviously, I don't mean to say that everyone in those neighborhoods thought this, only that it was an idea that developed and spread to many people there. There were also people who did not see all the Catalan people as enemies and kept a good class analysis and allied with the Catalan working class and the Catalan people as an oppressed group. A famous example is the writer Paco Candel who lived in one of these new working class neighbourhoods and was an activist for the working class and also for Catalan language, cultural and political rights. I don't think it's been translated to English, but if anyone reading this wants to get a very good view of what the situation was like, the must-read is Paco Candel's 1964 book Els altres catalans).

The idea that "people like us" speak Spanish and bosses speak Catalan is, of course, objectively false. Since in every place capitalism needs more workers than bosses, the first proletariat of the state of Spain was Catalan, and the overwhelming majority of Catalans were and are working class. And the poorest areas of Catalonia are also the ones where Catalan is most spoken and Spanish is rarely heard (all of them in Terres de l'Ebre, a largely agricultural area). At the same time, Spanish has always remained the language of power, the only one spoken by the police, the army, the government, the public administration, etc and the one that rich people want to be heard speaking for prestige reasons. Even more so back then, when Catalan was prohibited and legally persecuted in many sectors. But despite being an overall false picture, it was the experience of these people day after day. The mix of already-present Catalanophobia with the "confirmation" of Catalan people being their enemies in the workplace created this very weird and very out-of-touch mentality of Catalan people being bourgeois in a small part of the Spanish speaking people, while for the vast majority the idea of still that speaking Catalan is for extremist antifascists and that it was a thread for the fascist state and for the very existence of Spain and thus needed to be erradicated. With time, after the dictatorship ended and the democracy period started (1978), the Spanish left was legalized (Catalan independentist parties would take a while yet, because it was said that "Catalan separatists are more dangerous than the communists", but in some time ended up legalized as well, except for some Basque parties that have been illegal until the 21st century) and a part of the Spanish left instrumentalized Catalanophobia to gain votes in some circles, so they used this rhetoric and it spread more, because it gave them a justification that used the right words to sound vaguely leftist and they don't have to question their beliefs nor prejudices.

I hope this answers your question. Thank you very much for your interest and your solidarity, it's greatly appreciated.